Greater New Orleans

Behind the Scenes in Chavez's Live-TV Revolution

Jon Lee Anderson, author of the definitive Che Guevara biography, Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, and a roving reporter in Iraq, Afghanistan and Latin America, has just published a behind-the-scenes account of Hugo Chavez in the midst of a crisis with Colombia over guerilla warfare and territorial sovereignty. The story, published this week in the New Yorker, includes a breathtaking exchange--closed off from the press--between the presidents of Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua and Venezuela in a special summit convened to address Colombia's shelling of a FARC outpost in Ecuador. Anderson also explores Chavez's weekly "reality TV" governing sessions (in which staffers, at times, feel like extras on the "Truman Show"), and the special role that former Cuban President Fidel Castro has played in defining Chavez's political character, and--surprisingly--moderating his confrontational style. From the article:

Teodoro Petkoff, who ran against Chavez in the 2006 Presidential election campaign and is one of his leading critics on the center-left, told me that Castro had been "a moderating influence" on Chavez--a source for level-headed and pragmatic consultation for the younger man. He thought that Castro's departure from active politics had, in that sense, hurt Chavez. "Chavez doesn't have anyone to talk to, and there's no one who can argue with him; the people around him are all mediocre personalities," he told me. "The relationship with Fidel is key, because Chavez has a kind of adolescent devotion to him."